Defense of France

The Defense of France was a defensive campaign launched by Napoleon in 1814 to stop the invading armies of Sweden, Austria, and Prussia. His skills were brilliant in his campaign, but the Allies took Paris instead of responding to his movement away from the city, meant to lure them away from the capital. He abdicated, his generals realizing their defeat.

Background
By 1814 France faced almost certain defeat. Napoleon attempted to repeat the past success of his levee en masse, but only 110,000 war-weary French responded to the call, many of them as young as 16. His enemies invaded France along three axes: the Swedish army advanced from Belgium, another under the Prussian general Gebhard von Blucher marched into Lorraine, and the largest force, headed by the Austrian general Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, entered from Switzerland. Napoleon attempted to defeat the invaders by engaging sections of their forces in turn. It is widely agreed that he never displayed his talents more brilliantly than in this impossible situation.

Campaign
Between 29 January and 18 February he scored a series of limited victories over Blucher and Schwarzenberg. The Allies offered a compromise peace, but Napoleon insisted on fighting to the end. Then, during March, the Allies' numerical strength began to tell. Blucher defeated Napoleon at Laon on the 9th and Schwarzenberg beat him at Arcis-sur-Aube on the 20th. In a last gamble, Napoleon maneuvered to the east of the Allies, hoping to force them away from Paris. But the Allies simply ignored him and advanced to the French capital, which surrendered on March 30. Napoleon still wanted to fight on, but his marshals refused,. On April 6 the emperor abdicated, retiring to the Mediterranean island of Elba. The monarchy was restored in France in the person of Louis XVIII.